Entertainment industry trivia board game

ABSTRACT

An educational board game in which players advance game pieces from location to location on a map of the United States by correctly answering trivia questions related to cinema, music, concerts, stage plays, movie locations and plots, and the individual artists, performers, directors, composers, etc. who are associated with the performance industry. The locations on the board can be where movies were filmed, where concerts were played, where stage plays were presented, where the actors, directors, musicians, etc, reside or information about their careers and performances, etc.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to, and claims the benefit of, the provisional patent application entitled “MOVIE TRIVIA BOARD GAME”, filed Sep. 16, 2015, bearing U.S. Ser. No. 62/219,603 and naming William Cleveland, the named inventor herein, as sole inventor, the contents of which is specifically incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a board game in which players advance game pieces from location to location on a map of the United States by correctly answering trivia questions related to movies, movie locations, movie plots, and individuals involved in the movie industry. Optionally, the game can be centered on television the music industry, or live theater.

Background

A variety of games have been developed that are based on trivia questions. Typically, these games use a deck of cards that contain questions. If a user answers the questions correctly, points are earned and the winner is the player with the most points.

The prior art has failed to provide a board game that is not only entertaining, but also provides an educational function by associating trivia facts about a subject matter, such as movies, etc., that also informs the players about the subject matter as well as the geographic locations associated with the subject matter and the individuals involved with the subject matter. Further, they do no teach players about relationships between the many factors in an industry such as the movie industry.

While the prior art provide entertaining games for individuals, it has failed to provide an educational game that teaches players multiple aspects, locations, and interactions of participants in an industry such as movies.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an educational board game in which players advance game pieces from location to location on a map of the United States by correctly answering trivia questions related to movies, movie locations, movie plots, and individuals involved in the movie industry. The locations on the board can be where movies were filmed, where they supposed to be set, where the actors, directors, etc., reside, etc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a preferred embodiment of a game board.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a preferred embodiment of a question card.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Prior to a detailed discussion of the figures, a general overview of the invention will be presented. The invention provides a game board that uses a map of the US. Players compete to advance to locations on the board by answering questions related to the movie industry. The player who answers a question correctly advances to the next location, while an incorrect answer leaves the player in place or alternatively, penalizes the player.

The questions can relate to specific movie titles, plots, release dates, revenue, awards, etc. For example, a player could be asked what moving picture won an academy award in a particular year, what actors or directors won, how many Oscars a particular actor had won over a career, how many Grammys a music artist won, and what did they win it for, etc. This provides players with an educational benefit in that they learn who the most successful actors were and the most awarded.

In addition to performances that won awards, questions could also be posed related to individuals that never won awards. For example, Alfred Hitchcock never won an Oscar for Best Director, even though he directed many outstanding movies.

The questions can also be related to individuals associated with a particular film, such as who the actors were, what roles they played, who were the directors, producers, etc. Questions can also be asked concerning performances that two or more performers or other entertainment figures collaborated on. For example, Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn collaborated on a number of movies. In the same manner, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall collaborated on a number of movies. Questions can be made related to the performance plot or to the characters that they portrayed. This educates the players as to relationships in the performance industry, and how the collaboration of two or more performers produces a synergism that helps both performers provide an improvement over what they could achieve alone.

The questions can relate to a series of movies, where a movie may have several sequels due to initial success at the box office. A good example would be the James Bond series of movies. Questions could be asked related to which actor played a role in a given movie, to recurring characters, to plots, etc.

The questions can relate to technical details, such as silent movies, sound movies (“talkies”), black and white movies versus color movies, etc.

The questions can also relate to awards, such as the Oscars, or even to reviews by professional movie reviewers.

While the invention is described in terms of a board game using a US map, it can also be applied to other maps, such as a global map, or even a small area such a Hollywood.

In addition, the game can also be implemented as a computer software application rather than a physical board game.

Having discussed an overview of the game, we turn now to a detailed discussion of the figures.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a preferred embodiment of a game board. The game board uses a map of the US that has a selected number of cities 1 that are associated with the entertainment industry. For ease of discussion, the number of cities is limited, but those skilled in the art will realize that other cities could be easily added to the game.

During play, the game would begin at an arbitrary location, for example, New York. To win, the player would advance along path 2 to complete an entire circuit of the board. Alternatively, players could each start at different cities. Players advance in steps 3 on path 2. A card 4 (shown in FIG. 2) has a question that is asked of the player. It also has the correct answer. During play, the question on the card would be asked of the player by a second player. If the player answers the question correctly, the player then moves forward. If the player is wrong, them the player moves backward. After each question, the next player is presented with a question, and so on. The first player to complete the circuit wins.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a preferred embodiment of a question card 4. In this embodiment, the question card 4 has both the question and the answer. Of course, an electronic version of the game may have separate files for questions and answers.

The game questions can be selected to cover all entertainment segments, or particular segments, such as movies, music, or live theater. Further, the questions can be further divided in genres, such as country music, action movies, etc.

The game design can also be modified to replace the board with boards of other geographic areas, such as Europe, France, etc.

While the invention has been described with respect to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit, scope, and teaching of the invention. Accordingly, the invention herein disclosed is to be limited only as specified in the following claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A board game, comprising: a board having a map of the United States; a path that extends through multiple locations on the map; a deck of cards having questions related to the Entertainment industry; each card having a specific question and instructions for moving from one location on the board based on the correctness of the answer. 